How Global Trade Compliance Consultants Can Reduce Your Risk of Violations

Understanding complex trade regulations is a key to avoiding compliance violations in global trade. In attempting to understand which trade regulations directly affect your business, you must cut through all of the misinformation and hype. In order to do this, you have to know the difference between concise trade information versus speculation and guesswork. To avoid interruptions in your shipping and supply chains, you must also know which exact information you will need and precisely when you’ll need it

When engaged in international trade, your shipment documentation must be exactly what is needed, and be prepared to address changing regulations while your shipment is in transit. Valuation accuracy is important to avoid unnecessary customs levies and penalties for inaccurate and skewed data. It is here where you can rely on Global Trade Compliance Consultants (GTCC).

To get the right GTCC, look for an experienced licensed customs broker (LCB) with a cross-industry, international trade regulation background. Having a GTCC on hand gives your business the knowledge and insight needed to provide a foundation for regulatory trade compliance. They’ll interpret regulations as they apply to your specific global trade activities, and translate those regulations into compliant tasks and processes.

The regulatory requirements that govern your business must be incorporated into your global strategy and any future projects. GTCCs offer in-depth knowledge of trade regulations that are most appropriate for your business and industry needs. This provides you with the opportunity to focus on your business objectives while using the GTCC’s diverse industry experience. The end result is a pinpointed advancement of your trade activities.

A great way the GTCC can aid you is through software, especially if you are already SAP-reliant and want to explore using SAP GTS. With SAP GTS, you gain a component-based, industry-flexible solution that increases efficiencies and carries other benefits, like:

• Import management for process control and standardization, including tasks such as duty calculation, import/export filing, and self-filing customs forms
• Export management, customized for your business and industry needs, including automated trade reporting services; and
• Automated compliance services for regional and manufacturing needs, aligned with international trade compliance processes like the European Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS).

Bringing in an GTCC lets you use their knowledge and experience to determine what, or if, a software solution works best for your precise trade compliance needs. As the foundation of your regulatory processes is built up, you will find more time for new product development and exploring new markets while feeling confident that your company can meet any compliance hurdles it may come across. Based on knowledge and experience, the GTCC will be able to quickly discern regulatory right from wrong for you, while providing much-needed trade compliance strategies.

With a foundation of regulatory knowledge at hand, evaluating and interpreting what exactly these mean for your business becomes a crucial next step. The GTCC goes beyond being simply a licensed broker; they work with your organization to analyze and evaluate how trade compliance impacts your business. From this starting point, you can best determine the “who”, “what”, “where”, “why”, and “how” around applying this directly to your trade compliance processes.

Once the specific business relevant trade regulations are discovered, accurate applications and pivotal preparatory steps can be taken. These proactive measures will address and negate the potential of regulatory compliance violations, putting you in a sound place to confidently focus on your main goal–your business.

All of the information around regulations and global trade compliance will still need one final action to happen before your business sees an impact. Using your GTCC, the applicable regulations for your business must be adapted into effective and usable tasks and processes. An effective GTCC can determine which software will best fit your needs, codifying those tasks and processes, and making them repeatable. In the end, the best solution will be one which automates your trade compliance tasks and processes as much as possible, while giving you the flexibility to grow your business without risking compliance overkill.

Reducing trade compliance violations is always at the forefront of any business conducting trade on a global scale. The advantages of bringing in a highly knowledgeable GTCC gives you more than just an additional resource. The GTCC will recommend compliance best practices that will move you closer towards meshing functionality with effective business processes. They will work with you to develop process automation and may recommend a solution such as SAP GTS to do the heavy automation lifting.

An experienced GTCC can increase the efficiency of international shipping while avoiding the severe costs of regulatory non-compliance. They’ll help you maintain visible, real-time accountability and an audit of any products you have, regardless if they are sitting in a warehouse or are in transit. Pinary has expert global trade compliance consultants on hand to help you avoid regulatory potholes on the road to a growing global market.

Pinary, Inc. has achieved a perfect SAP integration and implementation record over the course of its 20 years of experience. The ability to rely on effective global trade and compliance consultants to guide your business towards the right compliance management system is a critical undertaking in today’s global business world. If you need to implement, upgrade, or streamline your current SAP-GTS system, contact us today.